Does left atrial appendage occlusion prevent stroke in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation?
This review summarizes the literature on the risk-balance ratio of left atrial appendage occlusion as an alternative to lifelong oral anticoagulation for stroke prevention in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.
Oral anticoagulation is the dominant strategy for stroke prevention in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. However, lifelong oral anticoagulation is associated with major issues including inappropriate dosing, nonadherence, and adverse effects. Therefore, efforts have been made to develop site-specific therapy aimed to occlude the left atrial appendage, the anatomical site accountable for more than 90% of nonvalvular atrial fibrillation-related ischemic strokes. This review focuses on the growing literature to put into perspective the risk-balance ratio of left atrial appendage occlusion.
Holmes et al. (2019) studied this question.